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THE POLITICAL OPINIONS OF 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 



THE 

POLITICAL OPINIONS 

OF 

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

AN ESSAY BY 

JOHN WALTER WAY LAND, B.A., Ph.D. 

assistant and fellow in history, university of 
vihoinia; authok oi "tiik i.khman ele- 
ment OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 
OF VIRGINIA," ETC. 



With an Introduction by 
RICHARD HEATH DABNEY, M. A., Ph. D. 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNJVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA; 

AUTHOR OF "THE CAUSES OF Jill 

FRENCH REVOLUTION," ETC. 



New York and Washington 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1907 



Tttl\3 



library of coNShEss, 

Two Copies Receded 

NOV 21 190/ 

C»pyrl£ht Entry 
CLASS A xXc, No 7 . 

/3BVSC 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1907, by 
John W. Waylakd 



OUTLINE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introductory 7 

Prefatory Remarks 13 

CHAPTER 

I. Concerning Government ... 17 

A. Its Purpose 17 

B. The Citizen's Rights and Privi- 

leges , . . 18 

C. The Citizen's Duties .... 21 

D. The Basis of Good Government . 22 

E. The Ultimate Corrective of Bad 

Government 29 

F. The Best Form of Government . 32 
II. Concerning the American States . 35 

A. Their Inherent Character . . 35 

B. Their Relation to One Another . 38 

C. Their Relation to the General 

Government 42 

III. Concerning the United States Gov- 
ernment . 47 

A. Its Functions 47 

B. Its Essential Features ... 49 



6 Contents 

CHAPTEB PAGE 

IV. Concerning the United States in 

Relation to Foreign Powers . 63 

A. As to Commerce 63 

B. As to Financial Obligations . . 69 

C. As to General Attitude ... 69 

V. Concerning Various Questions of 

Importance 76 

A. The United States Constitution . 76 

B. African Slavery 78 

C. The American Indians ... 81 

D. Foreigners 82 

E. The Liquor Traffic .... 84 

F. Civil Service 87 

G. Money and Banks .... 90 
H. Rights of the Minority ... 92 
I. Expansion of Territory ... 94 
J. Providence in Politics ... 97 

Concluding Remarks 98 



INTRODUCTION 

So vast is the deluge of printer's ink 
now flooding the world that the question 
may well be asked: Why print another 
book about Jefferson? Are not his own 
works in print? And have not numerous 
biographers written accounts of his life 
and opinions? True enough. Yet where 
are we to find a book in which the quin- 
tessence of Jefferson's political views is 
given in clear and readable style, yet suffi- 
ciently brief to find readers among the 
busy, rushing people of to-day? Dr. 
Wayland's " Essay " is just such a book, 
and I should be glad, indeed, if any com- 
mendation of mine could increase the 
circulation of the work. 

Neither the author of this essay nor the 
individual who has the honor of compos- 
ing the Introduction regards Thomas 
Jefferson as infallible. There were in- 
consistencies in both his words and his 
deeds. He did not always live up to his 
ideals. These ideals, none the less, were 
noble, and are well worthy of being held 



8 Introduction 

aloft before a generation in whose eyes 
both personal and constitutional liberty 
seem of trivial worth when compared with 
ephemeral fads or with heaps of gold. 

Hamilton thought the average citizen 
unfit for self-government, and fit only 
to be controlled by such sages as himself. 
Jefferson, on the other hand, considered 
the average citizen able to manage his 
own personal affairs better than either 
kings, statesmen, or majorities could 
manage them for him. I say, of man- 
aging his own affairs — a very different 
thing from managing the affairs of oth- 
ers. For Jefferson did not believe even a 
hundred million average men capable of 
managing the personal affairs of others 
as well as these could do it themselves. It 
is true that he considered acquiescence in 
the decisions of the majority to be the 
duty of the citizen. Yet surely the au- 
thor of the Declaration of Independence 
did not mean by this that the minority 
must be as sheep when the majority act 
as wolves. So long as the majority act 
within the limits of the law, so long should 
the minority submit. But such is not nec- 
essarily the case when government (in the 
hands of either autocratic czar or popular 



Introduction 9 

majority) passes wholly beyond its legiti- 
mate sphere. But what is that legitimate 
sphere? Simply this, in Jefferson's view: 
" to restrain men from injuring one an- 
other," while leaving them ' otherwise 
free." Thomas Jefferson believed firmly 
in majority rule, under strict constitu- 
tional limitation. Yet he would probably 
now agree with Herbert Spencer that, 
while the divine right of kings was the 
great political superstition of the past, the 
great political superstition of the present 
is the divine right of majorities. 

Egotists like Hamilton, Jackson, or 
Roosevelt think government a good thing 
in itself, and do not think there can pos- 
sibly be too much of so good a thing, 
provided they themselves may dispense it 
to the multitude. Such men enjoy do- 
minion over others, and believe in govern- 
ment for its own sake. Jefferson believed 
in liberty; regarding government as 
merely a disagreeable though necessary 
means to the great end of preserving the 
liberty of the weak against the despotism 
of the strong. There is no more brutal 
tyrant than a wrong-headed majority; 
and history shows that majorities, when 
trusted with unlimited power, are very 



10 Introduction 

apt to be wrong-headed. If monarchy 
should be limited, so also should democ- 
racy ; and the supreme merit of the United 
States Constitution is that it everywhere 
— so far as ink and parchment can do so — 
puts strict limitations upon the absolute 
domination of numbers. Having jumped 
from the frying-pan of monarchy, the 
men who drew up that great document 
were not silly enough to leap into the fire 
of unlimited democracy. To-day, on the 
contrary, a different spirit is rife. For 
millions think it right to dictate, by a mere 
count of noses, in town, county, or State, I 
whether grown men shall be permitted to 
play whist, or drink beer, or smoke 
cigarettes. Worse still, they sit drinking 
in with eager ears the perennial maunder- 
ings of Bryan, or gazing rapturously at 
Roosevelt's massive club and spectacular 
teeth. 

Yet each of these men prescribes the 
same remedy for all earthly ills — govern- 
ment, more government, and more govern- 
ment still. Jefferson, on the other hand, 
believed in liberty, more liberty, and more 
liberty still. Had a man who loved free- 
dom less written the epitaph upon his 
tomb, he would doubtless have mentioned 



Introduction 11 

the high offices that he held — would have 
gloried in the fact that he exercised power 
and dominion over man. Yet that epi- 
taph, written by himself, wholly ignores 
the facts that he was Governor of Vir- 
ginia, Plenipotentiary to France, Secre- 
tary of State in Washington's Cabinet, 
Vice-President and President of the 
United States. It does not even mention 
that by the purchase of Louisiana for a 
song he added an empire to that domain 
over which he had been chosen to rule. 
Three things, however, and three things 
only, did Jefferson mention in that epi- 
taph. All three promoted liberty. The 
first was the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. The second was the statute estab- 
lishing religious freedom in Virginia. 
The third was the fact that he was the 
Father of the University of Virginia, the 
object of which, again, was to make men 
free — free from the bondage of ig- 
norance. A trinity of deeds. A unity of 
purpose. 

Such being his love of liberty, one 
might ask whether Jefferson's political 
creed can properly be called " democracy," 
in the strict sense of the word, the domi- 
nation of the populace, the despotism of 



12 Introduction 

the majority. If we could tolerate such 
a hybrid word as " minimocracy " (we 
should flee aghast from such a monster 
as " microtatocracy " ) , and if "minimoc- 
racy " meant the political system in which 
there was a minimum of government and 
a maximum of freedom, then the term 
would convey a more accurate conception 
of Jefferson's creed than " democracy." 
For, while Jefferson was not foolish 
enough to believe, with the dreamy, 
theoretical anarchists, that government 
can ever be permanently abolished, he did 
believe that the ideal state is that in which 
individual liberty has reached the zenith, 
and governmental force the nadir. 

But enough. Let the Sage of Monti- 
cello speak for himself, in sayings selected 
in the calm, judicial spirit which Dr. 
Wayland displays in everything that he 
says, writes, or does. Dr. Wayland is not 
responsible for the opinions expressed in 
this Introduction, but I will state, in con- 
clusion, that he has been associated with 
me — as student in my classes, as assistant, 
and as friend — for a number of years, 
and that I take a natural pride in his 
work. R. H. Dabney. 

University of Virginia, 23 July, 1907. 



PREFATORY REMARKS 

In spite of the recent decision by the 
electors of the Hall of Fame, it is prob- 
able that no American statesman, unless 
it be Washington, holds a more assured 
place in American history than Thomas 
Jefferson. If the authorship of the Dec- 
laration of Independence were his sole 
title to permanent recognition, his pre- 
eminence could not be denied so long as 
the United States is a nation, or so long 
as the principles of national life embodied 
in that superb document are dear to hu- 
manity. But notwithstanding this fact, 
and the fact that he has other claims 
equally great upon the perpetual memory 
of our people, it is often surprising to 
observe how little is really understood 
concerning his actual place in our politi- 
cal organism. Most persons have at least 
a vague idea of what Jefferson stood for, 
but perhaps few only could give an in- 
telligent and definite outline of his opin- 
ions and principles. This is true not only 
in the more remote parts of our country, 

13 



14s Prefatory Remarks 

or in districts where party antagonism 
may to some extent have blinded the pub- 
lic eye to his claims upon posterity, but it 
is true also in too great a measure even in 
his own native State, and among persons 
that continually refer to him with the 
utmost deference. 

In the following essay no claim is made 
to a complete enumeration of Jeff erson's 
political principles and opinions; and 
those enumerated are not treated ex- 
haustively. Completeness and thorough- 
ness can hardly be expected in so brief a 
study, when bulky volumes have been 
written without attaining these results. 
Nevertheless, it is hoped that a compre- 
hensive outline is here given; that only is 
attempted; and it is also believed that 
nothing of great importance has been left 
wholly untouched. 

Two separate statements of Jefferson's 
platform of principles, as declared by 
himself, once in a letter to Elbridge Gerry, 
January 26, 1799, and again in his 
first inaugural address, have been care- 
fully studied, together with many other 
related statements found in various por- 
tions of his writings. His views on many 
questions are quoted directly, others are 



Prefatory Remarks 15 

given indirectly. If some erroneous 
opinions are occasionally expressed, or 
some false inferences drawn, they must be 
charged, not to Mr. Jefferson, 1 but to the 
writer, unless someone else is in some way 
made responsible for them; and if other 
views that are not essentially erroneous 
are perchance too broadly expressed, let 
it be remembered that in a brief treatise, 
such as this is intended to be, it is not al- 
ways possible to intrench every assertion 
with its attendant qualifications. 

The classification attempted of Mr. 
Jefferson's opinions may be subject to 
some criticism, since political, economic, 
and social questions are treated rather in- 
discriminately. For disregarding these 
distinctions in the partition and discussion 
of the subject, I have only, as an excuse, 
the plea that in real life, social, economic, 
and political problems are inseparably 
blended. Further criticism may be 
elicited by the fact that some questions 
that might have been discussed under the 
particular divisions have been reserved 
for the general head. For this offense — 

i By this I do not mean to imply that Mr. Jefferson 
was infallible, but that in the interpretation of his 
opinions I may sometimes be in error. 



16 Prefatory Remarks 

if it be one — I can only claim the decision 
of personal taste and judgment. 

The edition of Jefferson's Works re- 
ferred to in the foot-notes is that by H. A. 
Washington, in nine volumes. Other 
sources frequently consulted are the 
Statesman s Manual and Messages and 
Papers of the Presidents. The life of 
Jefferson most freely quoted from is Ran- 
dall's, in three volumes. J. W. W. 



THE POLITICAL OPINIONS 

OF 

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

I 
CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 

A. ITS PURPOSE 

Waiving for the moment a definition 
of government, let us see what, in Mr. 
Jefferson's opinion, is its purpose. 

Near the beginning of that instrument 
by which he is best known, a number of 
assertions are made which are assumed to 
embody self-evident truths. Among these 
assertions are the following : " That men 
are endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable rights; that among these are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness " ; and " that to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men." 
This is a statement so clear and direct as 
to need no comment; and that it is gen- 
erally accepted as true, we can scarcely 

17 



18 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

doubt. An expression, in more amplified 
form, of the sentence just quoted, but not 
otherwise differing from it, is found in 
Mr. Jefferson's first inaugural address, 
delivered March 4, 1801, a quarter of a 
century after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was formulated. After enu- 
merating some of the advantages enjoyed 
by Americans, owing to their geograph- 
ical position, the boundless resources of 
their country, a due sense of their equal 
right, etc., " What more is necessary," he 
asks, " to make us a happy and prosper- 
ous people? Still one thing more, fellow- 
citizens," he continues — " a wise and 
frugal g rnment, which shall restrain 
men from injuring one another, which 
shall leave them otherwise free to regu- 
late their own pursuits of industry and im- 
provement, and shall not take from the 
mouth of labor the bread it lias earned. 
This is the sum of good government, and 
this is necessary to close the circle of our 
felicities." 

B. THE CITIZENS EIGHTS AM) PRIVILEGES 

These have already been asserted in 
more or less general terms. The right of 
life is first. Liberty is also esteemed in- 



Concerning Government 19 

alienable. 1 Liberty in religion and lib- 
erty of person are specifically insisted 
upon. In the first inaugural address 
" freedom of religion " is mentioned as an 
'essential principle"; in the letter to 
Elbridge Gerry 2 is made the declaration, 
" I am for freedom of religion, and 
against all maneuvers to bring about a 
legal ascendency of one sect over an- 
other " ; and all men that visit the patriot's 
tomb are reminded that he was the " au- 
thor ... of the Statute of Virginia 
for Religious Freedom." 

Mr. Jefferson insisted upon liberty of 
person no less strongly. He demanded 
' freedom of person under the protection 
of the habeas corpus." 8 This was one of 
the privileges guaranteed by the Consti- 
tution, 4 to be suspended only under ex- 
treme conditions. In 1798 had been 
passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which 
were regarded by many as an unwar- 
ranted infringement of this principle and 
others. Virginia and Kentucky had 

t Slaves were not considered citizens, and hence not 
entitled to liberty. In fact, they could not have been 
regarded even as men, since men were entitled to 
liberty. 

2 Jefferson's Complete Works, vol. iv, p. 266. 

a First Inaugural. * Art, i, sec. ix, 2. 



£0 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

passed resolutions of remonstrance and 
nullification, those of Kentucky being 
originally drafted by Jefferson himself ; 5 
and it may be that the fresh remembrance 
of what he had regarded as so gross a 
violation of guaranteed rights by his 
predecessor in office, caused him now 
to reassert these rights the more vehe- 
mently. 

No one is to be denied the " pursuit of 
happiness." Here we have also a general 
expression of principle, but under it also 
we may find some special provisions. Of 
course, Mr. Jefferson recognized the right 
to acquire and possess property. His 
language already quoted advocates a gov- 
ernment that " shall leave men free to 
regulate their own pursuits of industry 
and improvement, and shall not take from 
the mouth of labor the bread it has 
earned." The right of suffrage was one 
accorded by the Constitution to all United 
States citizens, and was a right that Mr. 
Jefferson would have been the last to take 
away — he who had " a jealous care of the 
right of election by the people " ; 6 and in 
order that these several rights of life, of 
person, of property, of privilege, should 

5 Works, vol. vii, p. 229. « First Inaugural. 



Concerning Government £1 

not be unjustly abridged, he was careful 
to insist upon another specific right — the 
right of " trial by juries impartially 
selected." 7 

C. THE CITIZEN'S DUTIES 

In return for the " liberty of the law " 
the citizen must impose upon himself self- 
restraint. In giving all men religious 
freedom, it is assumed that their religion, 
though " professed, indeed, and practiced 
in various forms, yet in all of them in- 
cludes honesty, truth, temperance, grati- 
tude, and the love of man." The true 
citizen must pay his debts, respect the 
rights of others, discharge his civil obliga- 
tions, and strive always to be worthy of 
such a government as he would desire to 
have over him — in short, he must be a 
" man." 

There is yet another duty to be exacted 
of the loyal citizen, and although this duty 
may be implied by the above generalities, 
nevertheless, since Mr. Jefferson laid so 
much stress upon it, and since all must re- 
gard it as of fundamental importance, 
special notice is made of it here. This 
duty, a duty of States as well as of indi- 
viduals, is the " absolute acquiescence in 

7 First Inaugural. 



%% Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

the decision of the majority." This is 
regarded as the " vital principle of repub- 
lics, from which there is no appeal but to 
force, the vital principle and immediate 
parent of despotism." 8 

D. THE BASIS OF GOOD GOVERNMENT 

What then is the basis of good govern- 
ment? We get a fairly clear notion of 
what a good government is if we agree 
with Mr. Jefferson when he says that " a 
wise and frugal government . . . shall 
restrain men from injuring one another, 
. . . shall leave them otherwise free to 
regulate their own pursuits of industry 
and improvement, and shall not take from 
the mouth of labor the bread it has 
earned." We may attempt, therefore, 
to formulate a definition, and say that a 
good government is an organization of 
power whereby the affairs of a State or 
community are administered in such a 
manner as to secure to each individual 
protection from injury, freedom in well- 
doing, and possession of the fruits of 
labor. 

This definition recognizes power or 
force as an essential of government. 
Power or force is plainly implied when 

s First Inaugural. 



Concerning Government 23 

Mr. Jefferson says that government shall 
" restrain men " ; and, obviously, no gov- 
ernment can subsist, and be a government^ 
without a power behind it, or an element 
of power in it. Whether it be a good 
government or a bad government, a club 
government or a love government — if it 
governs, it has power. Now, in a good 
government, whence is this power derived? 
Mr. Jefferson, in the Declaration of 
American Independence, replies, " from 
the consent of the governed." But sup- 
pose nobody wants to be governed? Sup- 
pose all men want to, and are determined 
to, "injure one another"? where is the 
power "to restrain" them? "But," we 
say, " all men are not tyrants and cut- 
throats; if it were so, no government 
worthy of the name would be possible. 
There are always some good men in a civ- 
ilized community." 

Suppose, then, that there are in a com- 
munity five good men to every seven cut- 
throats; the cutthroats do not consent to 
be governed — in fact, they refuse out- 
right to be restrained: how is any insti- 
tution deserving the name of " govern- 
ment " to be established? "Well," we 
say, " under those conditions we must ad- 



24 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

mit that government, and particularly a 
good government, would again be an 
impossibility. There must be enough 
order-loving men to compel the lawless 
to obey the laws, if they will not do 
so otherwise." Just so. There must be 
a majority of law-abiding citizens in 
every community, if there is to be any 
safeguard against anarchy. This is a 
truth that appears to be self-evident. 
Now, it is also no less a fact, though per- 
haps not self-evident, that in every com- 
munity there will always be some men — 
however few — that have to be compelled 
by force to obey the laws. Then, if we 
accept the two truths just developed, — 
and it seems impossible successfully to 
contradict them, — we are driven by re- 
lentless logic to abandon, or at least to 
modify, Mr. Jefferson's assertion, that 
" governments derive their just powers 
from the consent of the governed." 
What he evidently means is, that " gov- 
ernments derive their just powers from 
the consent of the majority governed." 
There is no injustice shown Mr. Jefferson 
in acknowledging that in this particular 
instance he did not say precisely what he 
meant. His phrase, as he wrote it, is more 



Concerning Government £5 

rhetorical than it could have been in any 
other form; and even as practical a man as 
Mr. Jefferson may sometimes sacrifice 
precise expression in order to say a thing 
forcibly. Let us conclude, then, that he 
expected the majority to rule, even 
though some have to be compelled to re- 
spect the rights of man; and, in con- 
nection with this conclusion, I think we 
are right in believing that Mr. Jefferson 
was also convinced that in civilized society 
there is apt to be always a majority in 
favor of law and order. 

If it be true, therefore, that we can 
rely on the majority of men in civilized 
society as being in favor of law and order, 
Mr. Jefferson was safe in saying that 
governments derive their just powers 
from the consent of the governed — the 
majority of the governed. The majority 
in favor of order and justice are governed 
by the laws, willingly, because they con- 
sent to the laws ; the few opposed to order 
and justice are governed also, not because 
they consent to the laws, but because the 
laws constrain them with another sort of 
power; but, willing or unwilling, all are 
subject — governed by the consent of the 
majority governed. 



26 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

A pernicious citizen does not necessa- 
rily have to be a cutthroat or an anarchist. 
He may, to all pretences and appearances, 
be a most zealous patriot; while he is in 
fact only a selfish office-seeker, or a shame- 
less leech on the public treasury. An hon- 
est fanatic may turn out to be society's 
worst and most dangerous enemy. Obvi- 
ously, the more men in society that are 
bad citizens, either because of ignorance, 
delusion, or lack of principle, the greater 
the menace to good government; and, 
conversely, the greater the majority of 
good citizens, whether they be politicians 
or mechanics, peasants or princes, the 
greater the safeguard against anarchy. 
Every individual added to the number of 
intelligent, conscientious voters, or citi- 
zens without votes, is an additional pillar 
in the temple of state. In the ideal state 
intelligence plays so active a part that 
every citizen is a potential factor ; and this 
being true, the average state has a govern- 
ment good or bad, safe or unsafe, just 
in the proportion that the individual citi- 
zens are wise or ignorant, honest men or 
knaves. 

No one recognized this fact more 
clearly than Mr. Jefferson ; hence his con- 



Concerning Government 27 

tinual insistence on each citizen being edu- 
cated to act in accordance with principles 
of justice and right. He built his struct- 
ure of government upon the principle 
that Emerson has expressed: 'The ap- 
pearance of character makes the state 
unnecessary. The wise man is the state. 
He needs no army, fort, or navy— he 
loves men too well"; . . . " of him the 
existing government is, it must be owned, 
a shabby imitation." 9 

I repeat, therefore, that I believe Mr. 
Jefferson was counting on a majority in 
favor of law and order. He exhorted 
every man to be a good citizen. Of 
course, he knew that this condition is 
never, in pre-millennial ages, to be real- 
ized; but he had good reason for believing 
that the majority— and the large major- 
ity—will, in greater or less degree, be in- 
clined to accord their fellow-men at least 
some of the privileges esteemed by them- 
selves. That this conclusion is true, with 
respect to civilized peoples, I am con- 
strained to believe that the history of the 
world— certainly the history of America 
—bears witness. Let us remember, how- 
ever, that due allowance must be made for 

9 Emerson's Essay on Politics. 



£8 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

perverting influences and delusions that 
often lead nations, as well as individuals, 
temporarily astray. Let us also freely 
admit the fact that many evil and op- 
pressive governments have existed for 
long periods, even among peoples pos- 
sessing a considerable degree of enlight- 
enment. There are various conceivable 
ways in which the order-loving many may 
be deluded and controlled by the selfish or 
vicious few — for a while, and to a certain 
extent ; but any imposition that is violently 
unjust or unnatural cannot always en- 
dure. If no other way of adjustment is 
found, if the ear of oppression is too long 
deaf, the accumulated fires of revolution 
burst forth, and thrones, empty titles, 
palaces, and shackles of slavery are con- 
sumed. The first are put last, the last 
first. The power that seemed gives place 
to the power that is. The majority tri- 
umph. Should the criminal class ever be 
in the majority, order and justice would 
be at an end; life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness would be delusive names; 
good government would cease from the 
earth; the attempt to adjust grievances 
by an appeal to the ultimate method 
would only hasten an invitation to nihil- 



Concerning Government 29 

ism and annihilation. Our only hope, 
therefore, for even-handed justice and for 
a safeguard against national disaster, is 
in the manhood of the many; good citi- 
zenship is the basis of good government. 

E. THE ULTIMATE CORRECTIVE OF BAD 
GOVERNMENT 

The ultimate corrective of bad govern- 
ment is revolution. It is a terrible remedy, 
and can be justified only by the failure 
of every other means. Happy is that 
people who yield their state to reform 
before the chance of reform is lost; and 
wise are those rulers who heed the voice 
of reform before the thunderbolts of revo- 
lution crash in their ears. These princi- 
ples apply equally well to any form of 
government — a monarchy or an oligarchy 
as well as a republic. If the people de- 
mand reform, they will have it, or they 
will revolt. If the Czar of all the Russias 
has absolute power, let him use it well ; he 
has it only because the majority of his 
subjects consent to give him unlimited 
power. As a matter of fact, he does not 
nave absolute authority. He dares not 
utterly disregard the rights and interests 
of his people, else they will rise in their 



30 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

power and exact from him the penalty 
that tyranny so often has had to pay. 

In the case of a limited monarchy the 
same principle obtains. The power of 
Great Britain is not in Edward VII. and 
the two houses of Parliament, except only 
so far as they are trusted by the majority 
of the English people in the exercise of 
that power. Parliament can pass and en- 
force such laws as the people consent to 
obey; Parliament dare not refuse to pass 
such laws as the people demand. The 
English Reform Bills of the early half 
of last century did not originate in Par- 
liament, or with the King, but in the suf- 
fering populace. The voice of the people 
was heard and heeded — wisely heeded, 
because the wail of popular distress would 
otherwise have been only the prelude of 
disaster to princes and kings. _The thun- 
ders of crashing empires were loudly 
pounding at the Channel gates, and it 
was only the wise measures of reform that 
saved England from another bloody 
revolution. 

That Mr. Jefferson regarded popular 
resistance to constituted authority as le- 
gitimate in its place, there can be no doubt. 
Revolt he recognized as the final resort 



Concerning Government 81 

against injustice and oppression. But 
mark the qualifying term — not the first 
resort, but the final resort. The chief 
reason he gives for having such a " jeal- 
ous care of the right of election by the 
people " is, that he considers this right " a 
mild and safe corrective of abuses which 
are lopped by the sword of revolution 
where peaceable remedies are unpro- 
vided " ; and although we cannot be mis- 
taken as to the radical purpose of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, we are also 
reminded in its opening sentences of how 
momentous a step is contemplated: 
" Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that gov- 
ernments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes, 
and accordingly all experience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer 
while evils are sufferable, than to right 
themselves by abolishing the forms to 
which they are accustomed." 10 

So this great teacher of political poli- 
cies would teach patience under oppres- 
sion, and earnest perseverance to obtain 
correction of abuses by all " mild and 
safe " means, before abolishing established 
forms — before unsheathing that two- 

10 Declaration of Independence. 



3£ Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

edged and dangerous sword, dangerous 
alike to him who strikes as well as to him 
who receives the blow. " When a long 
train of abuses and usurpations, pursu- 
ing invariably the same object, evinces a 
design to reduce them under absolute des- 
potism," then, and not until then, is it a 
people's " right," a people's " duty," to 
revolt, and " to provide new guards for 
their future security." 1X 

F. THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT 

Mr. Jefferson undoubtedly regarded 
no form of government so safe and so 
excellent for his own people as a republic. 
Whether he would have advocated a re- 
publican government for Spain or Eng- 
land, or whether, had he been a Spaniard 
or an Englishman, he would have advo- 
cated a republican government for 
Anterica, is an interesting question for 
speculation; 12 but it is certain that he, an 
American, advocated unreservedly a re- 
publican government for America. " I 
know, indeed," he says, " that some honest 

11 Declaration of Independence. 

12 In a letter to Lafayette, Nov. 4, 1823, he says: 
" Whether the state of society in Europe can bear a 
republican government, I doubted, you know, when with 
you, and I do now." — Works, vol. vii, p. 325. 



Concerning Government 33 

men fear that a republican government 
cannot be strong; that this government is 
not strong enough. But would the honest 
patriot, in the full tide of successful ex- 
periment, abandon a government which 
has so far kept us free and firm, on the 
theoretic and visionary fear that this gov- 
ernment, the world's best hope, may by 
possibility want energy to preserve itself? 
I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, 
the strongest government on earth. I 
believe it the only one where every man, 
at the call of the laws, would fly to the 
standard of the law, and would meet in- 
vasions of the public order as his own 
personal concern. Sometimes it is said 
that man cannot be trusted with the gov- 
ernment of himself. Can he, then, be 
trusted with the government of others? 
Or have we found angels in the forms of 
kings to govern him? Let history an- 
swer this question." 13 

Some may contend that too much stress 
is laid here on the " kind " of govern- 
ment, and may point to the British Em- 
pire as an argument in favor of 
monarchy. But, then, is not the English 
government essentially republican, after 
all? Nevertheless, it is possible to lay too 

is First Inaugural. 



84 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

much stress on names and forms. The 
mere form of government, in truth, is 
not of so much importance, seeing that 
the form of any government may be 
quickly changed, if necessity demand it. 
Conditions vary, people vary, customs 
vary, and good government may be had 
under various forms; still, we are com- 
mitted to the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, 
that a republic is best for America; and, 
in closing this paragraph, it may be well 
to quote his definition of a republic. " In- 
deed, it must be acknowledged," he says, 
" that the term republic is of very vague 
application in every language. . . . 
? Were I to assign to this term a precise 
;and definite idea, I would say, purely and 
{ simply, it means a government by its citi- 
zens in mass, acting directly and person- 
ally, according to rules established by the 

• •■ >> 14 

. majority. 

14 Works, vol. vi, p. 605. 



II 

CONCERNING THE AMERICAN 
STATES 

A. THEIR INHERENT CHARACTER 

That the several States forming the 
American Union were, subsequent to the 
Treaty of Paris in 1783, and previous to 
the adoption of the present Constitution 
in 1788, inherently sovereign and inde- 
pendent, there can be no doubt; that in 
forming the general government they all 
acted, each in its sovereign capacity, can- 
not be questioned; and that the several 
States, under the Constitution, are still 
sovereign, except in those particular pow- 
ers expressly delegated to the federal 
government, is plainly implied in the Con- 
stitution itself, 1 and has been reasserted 
in turn by almost every State, or group 
of States, in the Union. 

' Each State retains its sovereignty, 
freedom, and independence, and every 

i Amendments to the Constitution, Art. x. 
35 



36 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

power, jurisdiction, and right which is not 
by this confederation expressly delegated 
to the United States in Congress assem- 
bled." 2 

" His Britannic Majesty acknowledges 
the said United States, viz: New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to 
be Free, Sovereign, and Independent 
States; that he treats with them as 
such. . . ." 3 

" The ratification of the conventions of 
nine States shall be sufficient for the estab- 
lishment of this Constitution between the 
States so ratifying it." 4 

" Done in convention by the unanimous 
consent of the States present." 5 

"The powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 
to the States respectively, or to the 
people." 6 

2 Articles of Confederation, Art. 2, July 9, 1778. 

3 Art. i of Treaty of Paris, Sept. 3, 1783. 

4 Constitution of the United States, Art. vii, 1. 

5 End of Constitution. 

6 Amendments to the Constitution, Art. x. 



Concerning the American States 37 

The doctrine of State sovereignty, as 
recognized in the above articles, and as 
promulgated by John C. Calhoun in 1838, 
when he declared, "that in the adoption 
of the Federal Constitution, the States 
adopting the same acted, severally, as free, 
independent, and sovereign States," 7 
seems not to have been questioned at the 
time the Union was formed, and not for 
a number of years afterward. " New 
York voted ratification [of the Constitu- 
tion] on the declared premise that ' the 
powers of government may be reassumed 
by the people whensoever it shall become 
necessary to their happiness.' " 8 ' Vir- 
ginia said, ' That the powers granted un- 
der the Constitution, being derived from 
the people of the United States, may be 
resumed by them, whensoever the same 
shall be perverted to their injury or op- 
pression; and that every power not 
granted thereby, remains with them and 
at their will.' " 9 "It was clearly under- 
stood that those who put the government 
together [the States] could take it down 
again." 10 

7 Mo. Compromise and its Repeal, p. 139. 

8 Powell's Nullification and Secession in the United 
States, p. 12. 

9 Ibid., p. 67. io Ibid., p. 12. 



88 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

Several of the States were slow in rati- 
fying the Constitution. Rhode Island 
held off till 1790; but no effort was made 
to compel any State to enter the compact. 
Each acted freely and independently. 
Mr. Madison, in 1799, declared: "The 
Constitution of the United States was 
framed by the sanction of the States, 
given by each in its sovereign capacity." 1X 
That Mr. Jefferson shared fully in this 
acknowledgment of State sovereignty 
will become more apparent as we pro- 
ceed, and must now be apparent at once 
to anyone who will reflect that he is the 
chief exponent of individualism in our 
republic, as opposed to centralism and 
paternalism. We need make here only 
one quotation from him on the subject: 
" I deem as an essential principle of our 
government, the support of the State gov- 
ernments in all their rights, as the most 
competent administrations for our do- 
mestic concerns and the surest bulwarks 
against anti-republican tendencies." 12 

B. THEIR RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER 

One of the most important features to 
contemplate in the history of our country, 

n Powell's Nullification and Secession in the United 
States, p. 102. 

12 The Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 151. 



Concerning the American States 39 

is the jealousy that has existed from time 
to time between different States and dif- 
ferent sections. Even before our national 
history begins we find these local jeal- 
ousies arising, and not only hindering 
trade and social intercourse, but even pre- 
venting a combined defense against the 
depredations of the savage tribes. In 
1754 a congress of commissioners from 
the different colonies met at Albany, for 
the purpose of concerting together with 
one another and with the friendly Indians 
upon measures of defense against the hos- 
tile Indians and the French. Benjamin 
Franklin brought forward a plan for 
uniting the colonies for defense and for 
some other purposes of general utility; 
but the plan was rejected by the colonial 
legislatures as likely to abridge their au- 
thorities, and by the British Board of 
Trade as likely to foster colonial inde- 
pendence ; 13 and when the struggle for 
independence was finally inaugurated, the 
reluctance to unite upon any definite pol- 
icy was a serious impediment to success. 
The several States had little respect for 
one another, and perhaps less for the fed- 
eral Congress ; the troops of the different 

1 3 Lecky's American Revolution, p. 11. 



40 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

States were often reluctant to serve ex- 
cept in their own districts, and under their 
own officers. When independence was 
finally gained, the same petty jealousies 
remained. When the Constitutional Con- 
vention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, 
their greatest difficulties were encountered 
in reconciling the " large " and " small " 
States. 14 One step was gained when it 
was agreed to put the States on an equal- 
ity in the Convention, the votes of each 
counting as one. Still, Pennsylvania re- 
fused to be on an equal footing with little 
New Jersey. One of the delegates from 
Delaware declared that his State would 
form a foreign alliance rather than 
enter a Union in which it would be 
at a disadvantage with larger States. 
In 1782 Pennsylvania had threatened 
to break away from the Confederacy 
and use her taxes for her individual 
ends. Rhode Island was continually 
threatening to start off alone. 15 Finally, 
by providing for a senate in the gen- 
eral plan of government, in which each 
State should have an equal representation, 
and by various other compromises, so- 

i* Johnson's History of the United States, p. 141. 
15 Nullification and Secession, p. 12. 



Concemmg the American States 41 

called, the Constitution was adopted. We 
see, then, that the great object in view 
was to preserve the several States on an 
equal footing, except, of course, in respect 
to those advantages of population or posi- 
tion over which legislation has no control. 
It is simply stating what must be obvi- 
ous to all, to say that Mr. Jefferson, who 
advocated " equal and exact justice to all 
men," also advocated equal and exact 
justice to all the States. He would be 
satisfied with nothing less than the just 
equality of States, as guaranteed by the 
Constitution. Such declarations as the 
following: that " full faith and credit 
shall be given in each State to the public 
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of 
every other State"; that " the citizens of 
each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the 
several States " ; and that " nothing in this 
Constitution shall be so construed as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, 
or of any particular State," were in true 
harmony with his ideas. 



4& Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

C. THEIR RELATION TO THE GENERAL 
GOVERNMENT 

On the relation that should exist be- 
tween the States and the general govern- 
ment, Mr. Jefferson's views are so defi- 
nite and so clearly expressed that any 
attempt to state them differently, or to 
comment upon them, would be utterly out 
of place; so I shall simply give the gist 
of these opinions as he has repeatedly 
expressed them. 

In a letter written from Monticello, 
June 5, 1824, to Major John Cartwright, 
we find the following: 

" With respect to our State and federal 
governments, I do not think their rela- 
tions are correctly understood by foreign- 
ers. They generally suppose the former 
subordinate to the latter. But this is not 
the case. They are co-ordinate depart- 
ments of one simple and integral whole. 
To the State governments are reserved all 
legislation and administration, in affairs 
which concern their own citizens only, and 
to the federal government is given what- 
ever concerns foreigners, or the citizens 
of other States; these functions alone 
being made federal. The one is the do- 



Concerning the American States 4$ 

mestic, the other the foreign branch of 
the same government; neither having con- 
trol over the other, but within its own 
department. There are one or two excep- 
tions only to this partition of power. But, 
you may ask, if the two departments 
should claim each the same subject of 
power, where is the common umpire to 
decide ultimately between them? In cases 
of little importance or urgency, the pru- 
dence of both parties will keep them aloof 
from the questionable ground; but if it 
can neither be avoided nor compromised, 
a convention of the States must be called, 
to ascribe the doubtful power to that de- 
partment which they may think best. You 
will perceive by these details, that we have 
not yet so far perfected our constitutions 
as to venture to make them unchangeable. 
But still, in their present state, we con- 
sider them not otherwise changeable than 
by the authority of the people, on a special 
election of representatives for that pur- 
pose expressly: they are until then the 
lex legum." 16 

Mr. Jefferson, in the passage just 
quoted, clearly defines, in general terms, 
the relation of State and federal govern- 

16 Works, vol. vii, p. 358. 



44 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

ments, the limits of power in each, and the 
method of determining disputed ground. 
In a letter to Judge Johnson, written 
June 12, 1823, he lays down the same 
principles : 

" I ask for no straining of words 
against the General Government, nor yet 
against the States. I believe the States 
can best govern our home concerns, and 
the General Government our foreign ones. 
I wish, therefore, to see maintained that 
wholesome distribution of powers estab- 
lished by the Constitution for the limita- 
tion of both; and never to see all offices 
transferred to Washington, where, fur- 
ther withdrawn from the eyes of the 
people, they may more secretly be bought 
and sold as at market. 

"But the Chief Justice [Marshall] 
says, ' there must be an ultimate arbiter 
somewhere.' True, there must; but does 
that prove it is either party? The ulti- 
mate arbiter is the people of the Union, 
assembled by their deputies in convention, 
at the call of Congress, or of two-thirds 
of the States." 17 

An earlier letter, written January 26, 
1811, shows such admirable foresight that 

it Works, vol. vii, p. 297. 



Concerning the American States 45 

I cannot forbear quoting a small part of 
it also; and I am constrained to believe 
that had the sentiments and principles 
therein embodied been consistently fol- 
lowed for a half century after they were 
expressed, that the most terrible chapter 
of our history would be far less terrible 
than it is. Statesmanship might have 
cured what the sword lopped off. 

" The true barriers of our liberty in this 
country," writes Mr. Jefferson in the let- 
ter referred to, " are our State govern- 
ments; . . . Seventeen distinct States, 
amalgamated into one as to their foreign 
concerns, but single and independent as 
to their internal administration, . . . 
can never be so fascinated by the arts of 
one man, as to submit voluntarily to his 
usurpation. Nor can they be constrained 
to it by any force he can possess. . . . 

" Dangers of another kind might more 
reasonably be apprehended from this per- 
fect and distinct organization, civil and 
military, of the States ; to wit, that certain 
States from local and occasional discon- 
tents, might attempt to secede from the 
Union. . . . But it is not probable that 
local discontents can spread to such an 
extent, as to be able to face the sound 



46 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

parts of so extensive an Union ; and if ever 
they should reach the majority, they would 
then become the regular government, ac- 
quire the ascendency in Congress, and be 
able to redress their own grievances by 
laws peaceably and constitutionally 
passed." 18 

In conclusion of this division of our 
study, let us return again to Mr. Jeffer- 
son's first Inaugural Address for a terse 
statement of both sides of the question; 
for it is only in a proper balance of State 
and federal powers that our best interests 
are secured: 

" I deem as essential principles of our 
government, the support of the State gov- 
ernments in all their rights, as the most 
competent administrations for our do- 
mestic concerns and the surest bulwarks 
against anti-republican tendencies; the 
preservation of the general government 
in its whole Constitutional vigor, as the 
sheet anchor of our peace at home and 
safety abroad." 

is Works, vol. v, p. 570. 



Ill 

CONCERNING THE UNITED 
STATES GOVERNMENT 

A. ITS FUNCTIONS 

The functions of the federal govern- 
ment have already been defined in general 
terms in the preceding paragraphs. It 
will be observed that while Mr. Jefferson 
constantly insisted upon the rights and 
powers of the States, that he just as 
urgently insisted upon the prescribed 
rights and powers of the central govern- 
ment — aiming steadily at a proper balance 
of the two. 

" I do not think it for the interest of 
the general government itself," he writes 
to Peregrine Fitzhugh, in 1798, " and still 
less of the Union at large, that the State 
governments should be so little respected 
as they have been. However, I dare say 
that in time all these as well as their cen- 
tral government, like the planets revolv- 
ing round their common sun, acting and 

47 



48 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

acted upon according to their respective 
weights and distances, will produce that 
beautiful equilibrium on which our Con- 
stitution is founded, and which I believe 
it will exhibit to the world in a degree of 
perfection, unexampled but in the plan- 
etary system itself. The enlightened 
statesman, therefore, will endeavor to pre- 
serve the weight and influence of every 
part, as too much given to any member 
of it would destroy the general equilib- 
rium." 1 

The particular functions of the federal 
government are specified in the Constitu- 
tion. The power of Congress to lay and 
collect taxes, to regulate commerce, to 
coin money, to declare war, to constitute 
inferior tribunals, to raise and support 
armies and navies; the power of the Ex- 
ecutive to command the armies and navies, 
to make treaties, to appoint public min- 
isters; the power of the Supreme Court 
to try public ministers, to try cases in 
which the United States is a party, and 
cases between the States — these are some 
of the particular functions of the central 
government; and these Mr. Jefferson 
would have preserved in their " whole Con- 

i Works, vol. iv, p. 217. 



Concerning the United States Government 49 

stitutional vigor." Moreover, he would 
have a proper balance between the several 
general departments. " I am for pre- 
serving ... to the legislature of the 
Union its Constitutional share in the di- 
vision of powers," he writes to Elbridge 
Gerry; "I am not," he continues, 'for 
transferring all the powers of the States 
to the General Government, and all those 
of that government to the executive 
branch." 2 

In short, the general government is to 
be the general agent of the States, and of 
the people through the States, and is to 
perform those specified duties which, on 
account of their general character, cannot 
be performed by a particular State. 

B. ITS ESSENTIAL FEATURES 

Under this head will be noticed some of 
the particular objects that Mr. Jefferson 
thought should be aimed at in the adminis- 
tration of public affairs, together with 
some of the features that he regarded as 
essential to the maintenance of good gov- 
ernment. 

Simplicity of administration should be 
a primary object. Offices should not be 

2 Works, vol. iv, p. 268. 



50 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

unnecessarily multiplied, and the general 
government should not burden itself with 
what the local governments can do more 
easily and effectively. 'When we con- 
sider that this government is charged with 
the external and mutual relations only of 
these States; that the States themselves 
have principal care of our persons, our 
property, and our reputation, constitut- 
ing the great field of human concerns, we 
may well doubt whether our organization 
is not too complicated, too expensive; 
whether offices and officers have not been 
multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes 
injuriously to the service they were meant 
to promote. . . . The expenses of 
diplomatic agency have been considerably 
diminished. The inspectors of internal 
revenue who were found to obstruct the 
accountability of the institution, have been 
discontinued. Several agencies created by 
executive authority, on salaries fixed by 
that also, have been suppressed. . . . 
Other reformations of the same kind will 
be pursued with that caution which is 
requisite in removing useless things, not to 
injure what is retained." 3 

Such a policy as this, judiciously pur- 

s Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 154. 



Concerning the United States Government 51 

sued, would not only save expense, expe- 
dite business, and lend effectiveness to ad- 
ministration, but would also remove many 
of the temptations to weak officials and 
unprincipled office-seekers. 

The minimum should be sought after in 
taxation. " Considering the general ten- 
dency to multiply offices and dependencies, 
and to increase expense to the ultimate 
term of burden which the citizen can bear, 
it behooves us to avail ourselves of every 
occasion which presents itself for taking 
off the surcharge; that it never may be 
seen here that, after leaving to labor the 
smallest portion of its earnings on which 
it can subsist, government shall itself con- 
sume the residue of what it was instituted 
to guard." 4 

We cannot read these sentences without 
being impressed with the feeling and 
vividness with which the effects of oppres- 
sive taxation are set forth. Does the au- 
thor have in mind the burdens of British 
" tyranny," under which his generation 
had groaned for a while? Perhaps so. 
But his experience was broader than that. 
The oppression of Parliament was bad 
enough, no doubt ; but compared with an- 

* Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 155. 



58 Political Opimioms of Thomas Jef arson 

other oppress^ system with which Mr. 
Jefferson had been made familiar, it was 
5.5 :;;::;.::« Fr:m March, 1 T S -3 . :: 0:::- 
ber. 1789 ? he had been oar representative 
at Paris: and we may believe that those 
f oar years and a half, spent among a 
people whose king was the nation, whose 
capital was the country, and whose last 
black loaf was snatched from their starv- 
ing hps to feed the sleek cur of a court 
favorite, presented an object lesson of 
centralism, of favoritism, and of oppres- 
sion so pathetic in its progress and so 
terrible in its results that it was never 
forgotten. 

Of coarse, an obvious means of avoid- 
ing heavy taxes is to avoid making debts. 
Economy in the public expense " should 
be observed, in order " that labor may be 
lightly hardened." This, ^e have already 
seen, was one of the advantages to be se- 
cured by a simplicity of the system of 
public administration. Mr. Jefferson 
neglected no opportunitv to teach econ- 
omv in afl the departments of govern- 
ment; recognizing the necessity of this 
principle in States as well as in individuals. 
It is to be regretted that we have had no 
Jefferson in recent davs to teach the same 



Concerning the United States Government 53 

lesson, when our government, with seem- 
ing great composure, was firing the hard- 
earned wages of labor through thirteen- 
inch guns at the rate of a million dollars 
from sunrise till sunset. 

It was regarded of great importance by 
Mr. Jefferson that our country should be 
free from large standing armies. He not 
only regarded them as unnecessary, but 
as actually harmful. He was in favor, 
therefore, of the general government 
maintaining a regular military force of 
only sufficient number for outpost garri- 
sons in time of peace, and to serve as a 
nucleus for the mihtia in case of war. By 
thus reducing the regular army to the 
smallest possible number, a great burden 
of expense would be avoided. Besides 
this, it was his opinion that a government 
in constant preparation for war would be 
more likely, on that account, to become 
involved in war. He was not in favor of 
allowing the country to neglect precau- 
tions for its public safety, as we shall pres- 
ently see ; but he was opposed to a useless 
and burdensome military equipment, both 
on the ground of economy and from the 
conviction that peace would thereby be 
endangered. 



54 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

It is entirely possible that he had on 
this point drawn valuable inferences from 
his observations in France and other parts 
of Europe, where the evils of militarism 
were rife, and have survived even to the 
present day. 

I have said that Mr. Jefferson was not 
careless of the public safety, although he 
opposed large standing armies. His plan 
was that the general government should 
give all possible encouragement to a well- 
regulated militia system in each State, as 
affording a natural, non-oppressive, and 
effective means of defense. This plan is 
repeatedly advocated. The following 
quotation is from his first annual message : 

' For defense against invasion their 
numjber [the surplus number of regular 
troops] is as nothing; nor is it conceived 
needful or safe that a standing army 
should be kept up in time of peace for that 
purpose. Uncertain as we must ever be 
of the particular point in our circumfer- 
ence where an enemy may choose to invade 
us, the only force which can be ready at 
every point and competent to oppose them, 
is the body of neighboring citizens as 
formed into a militia. On these, collected 
from the points most convenient, in num- 



Concerning the United States Government 55 

bers proportioned to the invading foe, it 
is best to rely, not only to meet the first 
attack, but if it threatens to be permanent, 
to maintain the defense until regulars may 
be engaged to relieve them. These con- 
siderations render it important that we 
should at every session continue to amend 
the defects which from time to time show 
themselves in the laws for regulating the 
militia, until they are sufficiently per- 
fect." 5 

In opposing a standing army, it is 
probable that Mr. Jefferson recalled some 
of the unfortunate instances in which the 
military power had, after a while, domi- 
nated the whole governmental system. At 
any rate, he not only opposed militarism, 
but was careful at the same time to insist 
specifically upon preserving the " suprem- 
acy of the civil over the military au- 
thority," regarding this as one of the 
essential features of our government. 6 

Another feature of our republic, re- 
garded as vitally essential, and worthy of 
being maintained as such, was freedom of 
the press. As a pool without a current of 
any sort to agitate it becomes stagnant 

s Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 155. 
6 First Inaugural. 



56 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

and poisonous, so a nation without a me- 
dium of communication of thought, with- 
out a bulletin to proclaim its doings, 
without a pillory for injustice, and a voice 
to demand reform, loses its healthy vigor, 
becomes sluggish, and soon begins to de- 
cay. ' Governments are republican only 
in proportion as they embody the will of 
their people, and execute it." 7 The press 
makes the will of the people known. Then, 
if changes of public policy become expedi- 
ent from time to time, in what other way 
can these changes be so intelligently and 
generally considered as by means of the 
press? 

Mr. Jefferson was convinced that 
changes from time to time become neces- 
sary. " Some men," said he, " look at 
constitutions with sanctimonious rever- 
ence, and deem them like the ark of the 
covenant, too sacred to be touched. They 
ascribe to the men of the preceding age a 
wisdom more than human, and suppose 
what they did to be beyond amendment. 
I knew that age [the age that formed the 
Constitution of Virginia] well; I be- 
longed to it, and labored with it. It de- 
served well of its country. It was very 

7 Works, vol. vii, p. 9. 



Concerning the United States Government 57 

like the present, but without the experi- 
ence of the present; and forty years of 
experience in government is worth a cen- 
tury of book-reading, and this they would 
say themselves, were they to rise from the 
dead. I am certainly not an advocate for 
frequent and untried changes in laws and 
constitutions. . . . But I know also, 
that laws and institutions must go hand 
in hand with the progress of the human 
mind. . . . We might as well require 
a man to wear still the coat which fitted 
him when a boy, as civilized society to 
remain ever under the regimen of their 
barbarous ancestors. It is this preposter- 
ous idea which has lately deluged Europe 
in blood. Their monarchs, instead of 
wisely yielding to the gradual change of 
circumstances, . . . have clung to old 
abuses, . . . and obliged their subjects 
to seek through blood and violence rash 
and ruinous innovations, which, had they 
been referred to the peaceful deliberations 
and collected wisdom of the nation, would 
have been put into acceptable and salutary 
forms." 8 

Here Mr. Jefferson makes direct allu- 

8 Letter to Kercheval, written July 12, 1816. — Works, 
vol. vii, p. 14. 



58 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

sion to the series of " bloody deluges " in- 
augurated by the French Revolution; and 
while he does not in this connection men- 
tion how the suppression of political dis- 
cussion through the press hastened and 
augmented those terrible upheavals, he 
certainly was aware of the fact and duly 
appreciated its significance. "If the 
rulers of France, instead of exerting 
themselves to silence the national litera- 
ture, had yielded to its suggestions, and 
had receded before the pressure of ad- 
vancing knowledge, the fatal collision 
would have been avoided ; because the pas- 
sions which caused the collision would have 
been appeased." 9 In view, then, of these 
facts, that evolution of governmental sys- 
tems attends the progress of nations, and 
that the public press is perhaps the best 
means of aiding this development and of 
providing a safety-vent against revolu- 
tion, we are not surprised that Mr. Jeffer- 
son repeatedly declared, " I am for free- 
dom of the press." 

But is not freedom of the press one of 
the particular privileges guarded by the 
Constitution? 10 True, it is. Yet, not- 

9 Buckle, Dabney's Causes of the French Revolution, 
p. 201. 

10 Amendments to the Constituton, Art. i. 



Concerning the United States Government 59 

withstanding that fact, Mr. Jefferson was 
wise enough to know that the Constitution 
may sometimes be violated, unless it is sus- 
tained by an overwhelming public opinion. 
In fact, he had witnessed a violation of 
this very provision in the passage of the 
Sedition Act, in 1798 ; and when Virginia 
and Kentucky declared that act unjust 
and illegal, it was Jefferson's hand that 
penned Kentucky's resolutions. 

The judicious encouragement of indus- 
try by the general government, within the 
" pale of constitutional powers," was re- 
garded as of sufficient importance to elicit 
frequent mention in Mr. Jefferson's mes- 
sages to Congress. His views upon the 
best means of fostering industry will be 
further discussed under another head. 

The fostering of seience and art and 
the general diffusion of knowledge were 
also regarded by Mr. Jefferson as coming 
in some measure under the duties incum- 
bent upon our federal government. In a 
republic like ours, where so much depends 
upon the individual citizen, it is of the 
utmost importance that each individual 
possess that degree of culture and 
broad-mindedness that will enable him to 
act with intelligence in the different ques- 



60 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

tions proposed to the public judgment. 
" The arraignment of all abuses at the bar 
of public reason " makes essential " the 
diffusion of information." X1 Therefore, 
Mr. Jefferson had the " two great meas- 
ures at heart, without which no republic 
can maintain itself in strength — that of 
general education, to enable every man to 
judge for himself what will secure or en- 
danger his freedom; and the division of 
every county into hundreds, of such size 
that all the children of each will be within 
reach of a central school in it." 12 Thus 
his plans embraced schemes both local and 
national, in each taking that practical 
turn which so eminently characterized all 
of his projects. The education itself that 
he proposed was of a practical as well as 
of a theoretical sort. The good of the 
people required, he thought, that while 
some were instructed " in general, com- 
petently to the common business of life," 
that others should " employ their genius 
with necessary information to the useful 
arts, to inventions for saving labor and 
increasing our comforts, to nourishing our 
health, to civil government, military sci- 

n First Inaugural. 

12 Works, vol. v, p. 525. 



Concerning the United States Government 61 

ence," etc. 13 While he would in educa- 
tion, as in all other things, place responsi- 
bility upon the individual and upon 
private institutions, in a degree commen- 
surate with their ability, he nevertheless 
was of the opinion that the general gov- 
ernment was under obligation for its share 
in the great problem of making American 
citizens ; and, in common with Washington 
and other statesmen of the period, he cher- 
ished the plan for a great national uni- 
versity, which should fittingly crown the 
symmetrical proportions of his educa- 
tional structure. In his sixth annual mes- 
sage to Congress he recommends such an 
institution to their consideration. " Edu- 
cation," he says to them, " is here placed 
among the articles of public care, not that 
it would be proposed to take its ordinary 
branches out of the hands of private en- 
terprise, which manages so much better all 
the concerns to which it is equal; but a 
public institution can alone supply those 
sciences which though rarely called for are 
yet necessary to complete the circle, all 
the parts of which contribute to the im- 
provement of the country and some of 
them to its preservation. The subject is 

is Works, vol. vii, p. 187. 



62 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

now proposed for the consideration of 
Congress, because, if approved by the 
time the State legislatures shall have de- 
liberated on this extension of the federal 
trusts, and the laws shall be passed and 
other arrangements made for their execu- 
tion, the necessary funds will be on hand 
and without employment. I suppose an 
amendment to the Constitution, by con- 
sent of the States, necessary, because the 
objects now recommended are not among 
those enumerated in the Constitution, and 
to which it permits the public moneys to 
be applied. The present consideration of 
a national establishment for education, 
particularly, is rendered proper by this 
circumstance also, that if Congress, ap- 
proving the proposition, shall yet think it 
more eligible to found it on a donation of 
lands, they have it now in their power to 
endow it with those which will be among 
the earliest to produce the necessary in- 
come. This foundation would have the 
advantage of being independent in war, 
which may suspend other improvements 
by requiring for its own purposes the 
resources destined for them." 14 

1 4 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 191. 



IV 

CONCERNING THE UNITED 
STATES IN RELATION TO 
FOREIGN POWERS 

A. AS TO COMMERCE 

Mr. Jefferson regarded commerce as 
the " handmaid " of agriculture, 1 and as 
one of the " pillars of our prosperity." 
He was warmly in favor, therefore, of 
encouraging commerce and attendant in- 
dustries by all judicious and legitimate 
means; but much legislation he did not 
consider the best means. In his letter to 
Elbridge Gerry he says : "I am for free 
commerce with all nations." He makes 
the following declarations in his first an- 
nual message to Congress : " Agriculture, 
manufactures, commerce, and naviga- 
tion, the four pillars of our prosperity, 
are the most thriving when left most free 
to individual enterprise. Protection from 

i First Inaugural. 
63 



64 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

casual embarrassments, however, may 
sometimes be reasonably interposed. If 
in the course of your observations or in- 
quiries they should appear to need any aid 
within the limits of our constitutional 
powers, your sense of their importance is 
a sufficient assurance they will occupy 
your attention." 2 

From these statements it is evident that 
the normal condition of trade was not con- 
sidered attainable by legislation; but on 
the contrary, that the " let alone " policy 
is best, thus allowing the natural laws of 
supply and demand to adjust commerce 
to its proper balance. This is substan- 
tially the same theory as that advocated 
by Adam Smith: 

" The true line of policy that govern- 
ments should follow, as respects commer- 
cial affairs, has been distinctly traced by 
Mr. Alexander Baring (now Lord Ash- 
burton). ' The only beneficial care,' says 
he, ' a government can take of commerce, 
is to afford it general protection in 
time of war, to remove by treaties the re- 
strictions of foreign governments in time 
of peace, and cautiously to abstain from 
any, however plausible, of its own creat- 

2 Statesman's Manual, p. 156, vol. i. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 65 

ing. If every law of regulation, either of 
our internal or external trade, were re- 
pealed, with the exception of those nec- 
essary for the collection of revenue, it 
would be an undoubted benefit to com- 
merce, as well as to the community at 
large. An avowed system of leaving 
things to take their own course, and of not 
listening to the interested solicitations of 
one class or another for relief, whenever 
the imprudence of speculation has occa- 
sioned losses, would, sooner than any arti- 
ficial remedy, reproduce that equilibrium 
of demand and supply, which the ardor 
of gain will frequently derange, but which 
the same cause, when let alone, will as 
infallibly restore.' " 3 

That Mr. Jefferson may have adopted 
some of his ideas on political economy 
from the study of Dr. Smith's great work, 
is possible. In a letter to John Norvell, 
June 11, 1807, he says: " If your- views of 
political inquiry go further, to the sub- 
jects of money and commerce, Smith's 
' Wealth of Nations ' is the best book to 
be read, unless Say's ' Political Econ- 
omy ' can be had, which treats the same 
subjects on the same principles, but in a 

s Smith's Wealth of Nations, p. 544. 



66 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

shorter compass and more lucid manner." 4 
But even if Mr. Jefferson had never read 
the " Wealth of Nations," it is prohahle 
that his opinions as to trade regulations 
would have been substantially the same. 
We can scarcely imagine that his long resi- 
dence in France, where the meddlesome 
hand of law, under the pretense of help- 
ing trade, really stifled it, could have left 
him blinded to the evils of such a system; 
and he doubtless had other ample opportu- 
nities to observe the pernicious effects of 
a similar system when applied to inter- 
national affairs. 

That Mr. Jefferson, therefore, re- 
garded free trade as the normal policy — 
the policy least likely to produce inter- 
national derangement, and most efficient 
in fostering home industries, seems un- 
deniable. Furthermore, he demanded 
reciprocity, on the part of other nations; 
and, in order to induce them to remove, 
or at least to modify, such trade restric- 
tions as interfered with American com- 
merce, he was even ready to consent, if 
necessary, to pass counter restrictions to 
some extent at home. This compromise 
policy, of attempting the cure of one evil 

* Works, vol. v, p. 91. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 67 

by submitting to another for a while, is 
suggested as an undesirable alternative 
in a report on the " Privileges and Re- 
strictions on the Commerce of the United 
States in Foreign Countries," made while 
Mr. Jefferson was Secretary of State 
under Washington : 

" Such being the restrictions on the 
commerce and navigation of the United 
States; the question is, in what way they 
may best be removed, modified or counter- 
acted? 

' As to commerce, two methods occur. 
1. By friendly arrangements with the 
several nations with whom these restric- 
tions exist: or, 2. By the separate act of 
our own legislatures for countervailing 
their effects. 

" There can be no doubt but that of 
these two, friendly arrangement is the 
most eligible. Instead of embarrassing 
commerce under piles of regulating laws, 
duties, and prohibitions, could it be re- 
lieved from all its shackles in all parts of 
the world, could every country be em- 
ployed in producing that which nature 
has best fitted it to produce, and each be 
free to exchange with others mutual sur- 



68 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

pluses for mutual wants, the greatest mass 
possible would then be produced of those 
things which contribute to human life and 
human happiness; the numbers of man- 
kind would be increased, and their condi- 
tion bettered." 5 

While the foregoing paragraphs show 
how desirous Mr. Jefferson was to induce 
foreign nations to abandon all restrictions 
on American commerce, they also prove 
how unwilling he was to secure even that 
object by putting legislative " embarrass- 
ments " on trade. The following quota- 
tion, from his second annual message, in- 
dicates his willingness, on the other hand, 
to cooperate in reciprocal adjustments: 

" It is with satisfaction I lay before you 
an act of the British Parliament anticipat- 
ing this subject so far as to authorize a 
mutual abolition of the duties and coun- 
tervailing duties permitted under the 
treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a 
spirit of justice and friendly accommoda- 
tion which it is our duty and our interest 
to cultivate with all nations. Whether 
this will produce a due equality in the nav- 
igation between the two countries, is a 
subject for your consideration." 6 

s Works, vol. vii, pp. 645, 646. 

6 Statesman's Manual, p. 158, vol. i. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 69 
B. AS TO FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS 

This topic may be dismissed with a very 
brief discussion. It might have been 
omitted altogether, had not Mr. Jefferson 
considered it worthy of repeated notice. 
It ought not to be necessary to assert that 
strict business integrity is as much de- 
manded of nations as of individuals; it 
ought not to be necessary to declare that 
no degree of power or height of prestige 
can relieve a peoole from the obligation 
to pay their just debts ; yet it may be that 
Mr. Jefferson, when assuming the most 
responsible office in the gift of a young 
nation — " a rising nation, engaged in 
commerce with nations that feel power and 
forget right, advancing rapidly to desti- 
nies beyond the reach of mortal eye," — it 
may be, I say, that he was wise to include 
among the " essential principles " of gov- 
ernment for that young nation, " the hon- 
est payment of debts and sacred preser- 
vation of the public faith." 

C. AS TO GENERAL ATTITUDE 

In attempting to indicate Mr. Jeffer- 
son's views as to the general attitude the 
United States should maintain with re- 



70 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

spect to foreign powers, I can do no bet- 
ter than to let him speak, in the main, for 
himself : 

" Peace, commerce, and honest friend- 
ship with all nations — entangling alliances 
with none " — this, he asserted, is one of 
the essential principles of our govern- 
ment. 7 Twenty-two years after the above 
sentiment was expressed we find the fol- 
lowing in a letter to President Monroe : 

" I have ever deemed it fundamental for 
the United States, never to take active 
part in the quarrels of Europe. Their po- 
litical interests are entirely distinct from 
ours. Their mutual jealousies, their bal- 
ance of power, their complicated alliances, 
their forms and principles of government, 
are all foreign to us. They are nations of 
eternal war. All their energies are ex- 
pended in the destruction of the labor, 
property, and lives of their people. [Here, 
I think, Mr. Jefferson was betrayed into 
some exaggeration.] On our part, never 
had a people so favorable a chance of try- 
ing the opposite system, of peace and fra- 
ternity with mankind, and the direction of 
all our means and faculties to the purposes 
of improvement instead of destruction. 
With Europe we have few occasions of 

t First Inaugural. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 71 

collision, and these, with a little prudence 
and forbearance, may be generally accom- 
modated." 8 

To show how anxious Mr. Jefferson 
was to preserve " peace " and " honest 
friendship " with other nations, while 
avoiding " entangling alliances," we have 
but to quote the following from his third 
annual message : 

" We have seen with sincere concern the 
flames of war lighted up again in Europe, 
and nations with which we have the most 
friendly and useful relations engaged in 
mutual destruction. ... In the course 
of this conflict, let it be our endeavor, as 
it is our interest and desire, to cultivate the 
friendship of the belligerent nations by 
every act of justice and innocent kind- 
ness; to receive their armed vessels with 
hospitality from the distresses of the sea, 
but to administer the means of annoyance 
to none ; to establish in our harbors such a 
police as may maintain law and order; to 
restrain our citizens from embarking in- 
dividually in a war in which their country 
takes no part; to punish severely those 
persons, citizen or alien, who shall usurp 
the cover of our flag for vessels not enti- 

s Works, vol. vii, p. 288. 



72 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

tied to it, infecting thereby with suspicion 
those of real Americans, and committing 
us into controversies for the redress of 
wrongs not our own; to exact from every 
nation the observance, toward our vessels 
and citizens, of those principles and prac- 
tices which all civilized people acknowl- 
edge; to merit the character of a just na- 
tion, and maintain that of an independent 
one, preferring every consequence to in- 
sult and habitual wrong." 9 

From the foregoing it is manifest that 
while Mr. Jefferson endeavored to pre- 
serve peace by strict justice to other na- 
tions, he also demanded justice from them 
in return for friendship. " We must 
make the interest of every nation stand 
surety for their justice, and their own loss 
to follow injury to us, as effect follows its 
cause," he writes to Edward Rutledge, in 
1797. 10 Nevertheless, his forbearance 
with injustice was great, as was shown in 
numerous instances — notably when the 
depredations of England upon our com- 
merce and the rights of our seamen had 
been for a long period well-nigh unbear- 
able ; and if anyone is disposed to say that 

9 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 165. 

10 Works, vol. iv, p. 191. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 7S 

it was only fear of England's power that 
delayed action against her injustice, we 
have only to remember that the same spirit 
of patience was manifested toward the 
Barbary powers, until repeated impudence 
and insults were added to injury. Let us 
note also in this connection the President's 
language to the Secretary of State, in 
1805, concerning the most formidable 
leader in Europe: ..." Consider- 
ing the character of Bonaparte, I think it 
material at once to let him see that we are 
not of the powers who will receive his 
orders." X1 

To say that Mr. Jefferson, in his efforts 
to secure peace and friendship with for- 
eign powers, was above all seeking the in- 
terests of the United States, is only to 
speak the truth; and it takes but little ar- 
gument to convince us that his coun- 
try's well-earned prosperity is a true 
statesman's highest object. By seeking 
to elevate his own country, by all fair and 
honorable means, he injures no other com- 
monwealth; but, on the contrary, elevates 
all mankind. " The first object of my 
heart," writes Jefferson to Gerry, " is my 
own country. In that is embarked my 

11 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 147. 



74 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

family, my fortune, and my own exist- 
ence. I have not one farthing of interest, 
nor one fiber of attachment out of it, nor 
a single motive of preference of any one 
nation to another, but in proportion as 
they are more or less friendly to us." 12 

If Mr. Jefferson gave his consent to 
retaliatory measures, when all other means 
of redress had been tried without success, 
he also was a strong advocate of national 
gratitude. " To say . . . that grati- 
tude is never to enter into the motives of 
national conduct, is to revive a principle 
which has been buried for centuries, with 
its kindred principles of the lawfulness of 
assassination, poison, perjury, etc. All of 
these were legitimate principles in the dark 
ages which intervened between ancient and 
modern civilization, but exploded and 
held in just horror in the eighteenth cen- 
tury. I know but one code of morality 
for men, whether acting singly or collec- 
tively. . . . But I indulge myself in 
these reflections because my own feelings 
run me into them; . . . Let us hope 
that our new government will take some 
other occasion to show that they mean to 
proscribe no virtue from the canons of 

12 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 9, p. 469. 



In Relation to Foreign Powers 75 

their conduct with other nations. In every 
other instance, the new government has 
ushered itself to the world as honest, mas- 
culine, and dignified." 13 

We may sum up, then, in concluding 
this division, with the words employed at 
the beginning : " Peace, commerce, and 
honest friendship with all nations — en- 
tangling alliances with none." Com- 
merce, left free, if possible, from all legal 
interference; friendship, honestly secured 
and honestly maintained ; peace, above all, 
but not a policy of peace that is blind to 
outrage, or that tolerates piracy, or pays 
tribute. The American Eagle grasps in 
one talon the olive branch, in the other, 
thunderbolts. The olive branch is ex- 
tended to all alike; it is proffered repeat- 
edly; it is not withheld on slight provoca- 
tion; it is withdrawn only when public 
safety or national honor is in direct jeop- 
ardy. 

13 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 541. 



CONCERNING VARIOUS QUES- 
TIONS OF IMPORTANCE 

A. THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION 

The United States Constitution, in the 
main, embodied Mr. Jefferson's ideas. 
Being in Paris at the time of its adoption, 
he had no part in framing it ; nevertheless, 
he heartily favored its leading principles, 
and regarded it as fairly complete. Some 
additional stipulations that he desired 
were, " Freedom of religion, freedom of 
the press, freedom of commerce, no sus- 
pension of habeas corpus, and no stand- 
ing army." * He also desired a limitation 
of the term of presidential service and 
the placing of the choice of president more 
effectually in the hands of the people. 2 
Some of these additional features, but not 
all, were secured by amendments; never- 
theless, Mr. Jefferson was as stanch a sup- 
porter of the Constitution as if it had em- 

1 Powell's Nullification and Secession, p. 7. 

2 Works, vol. vii, p. 336. 

76 



Various Questions of Importance 77 

braced all his ideas. He would preserve 
the general government " in its whole con- 
stitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of 
our peace at home and safety abroad," 3 
and " cherish the federal union as the only 
rock of safety " ; 4 yet he was just as care- 
ful " to keep in all things within the pale 
of our constitutional powers." 5 He 
would interpret the Constitution " accord- 
ing to its obvious principles, and those on 
which it was known to be received." : ' On 
every question of construction," said he, 
[let us] " carry ourselves back to the time 
when the Constitution was adopted, recol- 
lect the spirit manifested in the debates, 
and instead of trying what meaning may 
be squeezed out of the text, or invented 
against it, conform to the probable one in 
which it was passed." 6 He would also 
have changes made in the Constitution, as 
conditions might require: "The real 
friends of the Constitution in its federal 
form, if they wish it to be immortal, should 
be attentive, by amendments, to make it 
keep pace with the advance of the age in 
science and experience. 



» 7 



s First Inaugural. 4 Second Annual Message. 

5 Ibid. 6 Works, vol. vii, p. 296. 

t Works, vol. vii, p. 336. 



78 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
B. AFRICAN SLAVERY 

Although Mr. Jefferson himself had a 
large number of slaves, he was personally- 
opposed to the institution of slavery, and 
lost no opportunity to speak against it. 
While yet a young man, and a new mem- 
ber of the Virginia Legislature, he drew 
upon himself, in conjunction with Colonel 
Bland, the denunciations of the House, by 
seconding a proposal for certain moderate 
extensions of the laws to the negroes. 8 As 
President of the United States he called 
the attention of Congress, notably in his 
sixth annual message, to the approach of 
the period (January 1, 1808), at which 
they might interpose their authority con- 
stitutionally to stop the foreign slave 
trade — " to withdraw the citizens of the 
United States from all further participa- 
tion in those violations of human rights 
which have been so long continued on the 
unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and 
which the morality, the reputation, and 
the best interests of our country have long 
been eager to proscribe." 9 In 1814 he 
writes as follows to Edward Coles: " Your 

s Randall's Life of Jeferson, vol. 3, p. 643. 
9 Statesman's Manual, p. 190. 



8£ Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

ent as we read his annual messages and 
other state papers, and note his continued 
solicitude for them and their rights. The 
following paragraph, from his sixth an- 
nual message, embodies his general senti- 
ments on the subject: 

" We continue to receive proofs of the 
growing attachment of our Indian neigh- 
bors, and of their disposition to place all 
their interests under the patronage of the 
United States. These dispositions are in- 
spired by their confidence in our justice, 
and in the sincere concern we feel for their 
welfare, and as long as we discharge these 
high and honorable functions with the in- 
tegrity and good faith which alone can 
entitle us to their continuance, we may ex- 
pect to reap the just reward in their peace 
and friendship." 14 

It is to be regretted that such friendly 
dispositions on the part of the Indians 
have not always been compelled by justice 
and honor on our part. 

D. FOREIGNERS 

After noting Mr. Jefferson's concern 
for the welfare of the Indian tribes, we 
are not surprised that he should have a 

I* Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 189. 



Various Questions of Importance 81 

cation, — that of the negro as well as the 
white; for although he ventures the opin- 
ion that the " black man in his present state 
is not equal in body and mind to the white 
man," he also says : "It would be hazard- 
ous to affirm that, equally cultivated for a 
few generations, he would not become 
so." 12 Perhaps, could he observe our con- 
ditions now, he would concur in the opin- 
ion recently expressed by the colored edu- 
cator of Savannah, Georgia, Major It. It. 
Wright, that " if the government had 
given each colored man forty acres and a 
mule instead of the ballot it would have 
been of more profit to the race." In the 
training of the negro, I think it is prob- 
able he would emphasize industrial fea- 
tures ; and this view appears the more ten- 
able when we remember the care he exer- 
cised in providing his workshops with car- 
penters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and 
nailsmiths from among his slaves. 13 

C. THE AMERICAN INDIANS 

The concern entertained by Mr. Jeffer- 
son for the welfare and just treatment of 
the various Indian tribes becomes appar- 

12 Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, pp. 369, 370. 
i3 Smucker's Life of Jefferson, p. 296. 



80 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

We observe from the foregoing quota- 
tion that Mr. Jefferson's plan for eman- 
cipation was very similar to that of Henry 
Clay, who would have provided for grad- 
ual emancipation, for deportation, and for 
having the slaves themselves to earn the 
cost of their transportation and settle- 
ment. Jefferson would have provided for 
gradual emancipation, for education, and 
for deportation. Says his biographer, 
Randall: "His hostility to African slav- 
ery is earnestly, vehemently expressed; 
and he avows the opinion . . . that 
it was impossible for the two races to live 
equally free in the same government 

. . that, accordingly, emancipation 
and ' deportation ' should go hand in hand 
— and that these processes should be grad- 
ual enough to make proper provisions for 
the blacks in their new country, and fill 
their places in this with free white 
laborers." n -v" ■ 

How Mr. Jefferson would attempt to 
solve the problem that confronts us to- 
day, — that of adjusting the two races 
" equally free in the same government," — 
can only be conjectured. He unquestion- 
ably would spare no means for their edu- 

n Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 370. 



Various Questions of Importance 79 

solitary but welcome voice is the first 
which has brought this sound to my ears ; 
and I have considered the general silence 
which prevails on this subject, as indicat- 
ing an apathy unfavorable to every hope. 
Yet the hour of emancipation is advanc- 
ing in the march of time. It will come; 
and whether brought on by the generous 
energy of our own minds, or by the bloody 
process of St. Domingo, . . . is a 
leaf of our history not yet turned over. 

"As to the method by which this diffi- 
cult work is to be effected, if permitted to 
be done by ourselves, I have seen no prop- 
osition so expedient, on the whole, as that 
of emancipation of those born after a 
given day, and of their education and ex- 
patriation at a proper age. This would 
give time for a gradual extinction of that 
species of labor, and substitution of an- 
other, and lessen the severity of the shock, 
which an operation so fundamental can- 
not fail to produce. The idea of emanci- 
pating the whole at once, the old as well 
as the young, and retaining them here, is 
of those only who have not the guide of 
either knowledge or experience on the sub- 
ject." 10 

10 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 644. 



Various Questions of Importance 83 

similar solicitude for the oppressed of 
other lands. The following quotation is 
made from his first annual message : 

" I cannot omit recommending a revisal 
of the laws on the subject of naturaliza- 
tion. Considering the ordinary chances 
of human life, a denial of citizenship 
under a residence of fourteen years is a 
denial to a great proportion of those who 
ask it, and controls a policy pursued from 
their first settlement by many of these 
States, and still believed of consequence 
to their prosperity. And shall we refuse 
the unhappy fugitives from distress that 
hospitality which the savages of the wil- 
derness extended to our fathers arriving 
in this land? Shall oppressed humanity 
find no asylum on this globe? The Con- 
stitution, indeed, has wisely provided that, 
for admission to certain offices of impor- 
tant trust, a residence shall be required 
sufficient to develop character and design. 
But might not the general character and 
capabilities of a citizen be safely commu- 
nicated to everyone manifesting a bona- 
fide purpose of embarking his life and 
fortunes permanently with us? With re- 
strictions, perhaps, to guard against the 
fraudulent usurpation of our flag. . ." 15 

is Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 157. 



84 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
E. THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 

A temperate man himself, Mr. Jeffer- 
son felt concerned for the class of men 
whose weakness for strong drink renders 
them unfortunate. To what extent, and 
by what method, he thought legislation 
might protect the intemperate class, will 
be apparent from the following extracts 
from his writings : 

" I rejoice, as a moralist, at the prospect 
of a reduction of the duties on wine, by 
our National Legislature. It is an error 
to view a tax on that liquor as merely a 
tax on the rich. It is a prohibition of its 
use to the middling class of our citizens, 
and a condemnation of them to the poison 
of whisky, which is desolating their houses. 
No nation is drunken where wine is cheap ; 
and none sober, where the dearness of wine 
substitutes ardent spirits as the common 
beverage. It is, in truth, the only anti- 
dote to the bane of whisky. Fix but the 
duty at the rate of other merchandise, and 
we can drink wine here as cheap as we do 
grog; and who will not prefer it? Its ex- 
tended use will carry health and comfort 
to a much enlarged circle." l6 

is To M. de Neuville, cir. 1818- -Randall's Life of 
Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 449. 



Various Questions of Importance 85 

To General Samuel Smith he writes, on 
May 3, 1823: ". . . One of his [the 
legislator's] important duties is as guard- 
ian of those who, from causes susceptible 
of precise definition, cannot take care of 
themselves. Such are infants, maniacs, 
gamblers, drunkards. The last, as much 
as the maniac, requires restrictive measures 
to save him from the fatal infatuation 
under which he is destroying his health, his 
morals, his family, and his usefulness to 
society. One powerful obstacle to his 
ruinous self-indulgence would be a price 
beyond his competence. ... A tax 
on whisky is to discourage its consump- 
tion; a tax on foreign spirits encourages 
whisky by removing its rival from compe- 
tition. The price and present duty throw 
foreign spirits already out of competition 
with whisky, and accordingly they are 
used but to a salutary extent. You see 
no persons besotting themselves with im- 
ported spirits, wines, liquors, cordials, etc. 
Whisky claims to itself alone the exclu- 
sive office of sot-making." 17 

If it were true that whisky " claims to 
itself alone the exclusive office of sot-mak- 
ing," and if it were true that nobody 

17 Works, vol. vii, p. 285. 



86 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

would drink whisky when wine, etc., is as 
cheap as " grog," then Mr. Jefferson's 
theory of temperance reform would be 
very nearly complete. As it is, no one can 
condemn it wholly. Perhaps, after all, it 
is about as effective as any legal restric- 
tion can be; and perhaps, in Mr. Jeffer- 
son's day, it was even more feasible than 
at the present. 

Without stopping further to consider 
the practicability of Mr. Jefferson's plan, 
as proposed above, or to search for a bet- 
ter one, I will adduce one more quotation 
on the subject under discussion, this one 
from a special message of January 28, 
1803: 

" These people [certain Indian tribes] 
are becoming very sensible of the baneful 
effects produced on their morals, their 
health, and existence, by the abuse of ar- 
dent spirits, and some of them earnestly 
desire a prohibition of that article from 
being carried among them. The legisla- 
ture will consider whether the effectuating 
that desire would not be in the spirit of 
benevolence and liberality which they have 
hitherto practiced toward these our neigh- 
bors, and which has had so happy an effect 
toward conciliating their friendship. It 



Various Questions of Importance 87 

has been found, too, in experience, that 
the same abuse gives frequent rise to inci- 
dents tending much to commit our peace 
with the Indians." 18 

Since Mr. Jefferson recognized that it 
is a duty of the legislator to guard the 
drunkard, as well as the maniac; that the 
distribution of liquor among savages gives 
frequent rise to trouble; and that with- 
holding from them ardent spirits might be 
the part of benevolence and liberality, we 
can scarcely help but wonder whether he 
ever reflected upon the advisability of try- 
ing the same policy with civilized men. 
However this may be, we cannot help 
wishing that when our people embarked 
upon their recent civilizing ( ?) projects 
they would have followed, a little more 
closely, in their dealings with Asiatic sav- 
ages ( ?) , the policy recommended by Mr. 
Jefferson for dealings with the savages of 
North America. 

F. CIVIL SERVICE 

It has already been noted under previ- 
ous heads that Mr. Jefferson advocated a 
simple system of administration, believing 
that the number of officials both at home 

is Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 162. 



88 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

and abroad should be reduced to the small- 
est number consistent with efficient service. 
When he entered upon office as President 
he had a problem to meet, with respect to 
the distribution of minor offices, that had 
not confronted either of his predecessors. 
Most of the men he found holding posi- 
tions under presidential appointment were 
those who had been appointed by General 
Washington. These persons, on Mr. 
Adams' election, being either Federalists 
or men that had never strongly avowed 
party connection one way or the other, of 
course gave Mr. Adams no ground for 
their removal, and so were continued in 
office during his administration. In Mr. 
Jefferson's case, however, the conditions 
were different. He could not consistently 
and effectively carry out his plan of gov- 
ernment if a large majority of important 
positions were held by men antagonistic 
to his principles. On the other hand, he 
could not remove many of the Federalists 
from office without arousing the general 
opposition of that party, thereby alienat- 
ing the support that many of them other- 
wise were disposed to give to his adminis- 
tration. In the dilemma he endeavored 
to pursue a middle course — he removed 



Various Questions of Importance 89 

some who were violent partisans, some who 
were appointed literally on the eve of his 
inauguration, and some who were disqual- 
ified for the efficient discharge of their du- 
ties — in all but a comparatively small 
number. But notwithstanding his discre- 
tion, he was assailed by both parties — by 
the Federalists, as having instituted a 
'spoils" system; by the Republicans, as 
having yielded too much to the Federal- 
ists. But although his opponents accuse 
him of originating the doctrine, " To the 
victors belong the spoils," they at the same 
time are forced to acknowledge his mod- 
eration. "It is due him to say that, al- 
though he confined his appointments to 
office to his political friends, as did gener- 
ally his successors, Presidents Madison 
and Monroe, his removals of political op- 
ponents from office, during the eight years 
of his administration, were but few in 
number, compared with those of more 
recent administrations." 19 

On the whole, therefore, it seems evi- 
dent that Mr. Jefferson based his choice 
of men for office upon their fitness for ef- 
ficient service, rather than upon party dis- 
tinctions. ''* I have never removed a man," 

io Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 221. 



90 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 

says he, " merely because he was a Feder- 
alist: I have never wished them to give a 
vote at an election, but according to their 
own wishes. But as no government could 
discharge its duties to the best advantage 
of its citizens, if its agents were in a regu- 
lar course of thwarting instead of execut- 
ing all its measures, and were employing 
the patronage and influence of their offices 
against the government and its measures, 
I have only requested they would be quiet, 
and they should be safe ; that if their con- 
science urges them to take an active and 
zealous part in opposition, it ought also to 
urge them to retire from a post which they 
could not conscientiously conduct with 
fidelity to the trust reposed in them; and 
on failure to retire, I have removed them ; 
that is to say, those who maintained an ac- 
tive and zealous opposition to the govern- 
ment." 20 

G. MONEY AND BANKS 

By the limitation of its charter, the 
United States Bank had expired in 1811. 
Very soon after its friends in Congress 
began earnestly to urge its reestablish- 
ment, on the ground that the want of it 

20 To John Page, July 17, 1807.— Works, vol. v, p. 136. 



Various Questions of Importance 91 

mainly led to the distressing derangement 
prevailing in monetary affairs. Some of 
the earlier Republican opponents of the 
bank had begun to yield to these views; 
but Mr. Jefferson maintained his uncom- 
promising hostility. His general plan 
was to propose, as a substitute for the 
bank, the issuance of Treasury bills, 
' emitted on a specific tax appropriated 
for their redemption." He pronounced 
the system of State banks, as then organ- 
ized, unsubstantial and fraudulent — " pro- 
ductive of evil at best, and always ready 
to explode and carry ruin throughout the 
community." He regarded State banks 
as convenient, and even necessary, per- 
haps, for the accommodation of business 
men, but thought they should offer noth- 
ing but cash in exchange for discounted 
bills. 21 On September 10, 1814, when the 
banks suspended specie payment, he wrote 
to Thomas Cooper: " The crisis, then, of 
the abuses of banking is arrived. . . . 
Between two and three hundred millions 
of dollars of their promissory notes are in 
the hands of the people, for solid produce 
and property sold, and they formally de- 
clare they will not pay them. This is an 

2i Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, pp. 386, 387. 



92 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

act of bankruptcy, of course, and will be 
so pronounced by any court before which 
it shall be brought. ... A fearful 
tax ! if equalized on all ; but overwhelming 
and convulsive by its partial fall. . . . 
From the establishment of the United 
States Bank, to this day, I have preached 
against this system, but have been sensible 
no cure could be hoped but in the catas- 
trophe now happening. . . . We are 
now without any medium; and necessity, 
as well as patriotism and confidence, will 
make us all eager to receive treasury notes, 
if founded on specific taxes. Congress 
may now borrow of the public, and with- 
out interest, all the money they may want, 
to the amount of a competent circulation, 
by merely issuing their own promissory 
notes, of proper denominations, for the 
larger purposes of circulation, but not for 
the small. Leave that door open for the 
entrance of metallic money. . . ." 22 

H. RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY 

While Mr. Jefferson continually in- 
sisted that it is the duty of every citizen to 
acquiesce in the decision of the majority, 
he at the same time recognized that the 

22 Randall's Life of Jeferson, vol. 3, pp. 402, 403. 



Various Questions of Importance 93 

minority have rights that the majority are 
bound to respect. This is a truth that 
should always be remembered. There are 
always many souls in every commonwealth 
that have no voice in the government, how- 
ever democratic the system may be. Be- 
cause women and children may have no 
vote, and therefore exercise no active 
power in the State, is no reason why the 
laws should ignore their interests. Like- 
wise, when one political party has been de- 
feated, its interests, or at least the individ- 
ual rights of those composing it, should 
not be held as forfeited to the party in 
power, but the hand of justice should pro- 
tect the privileges of vanquished as well 
as victors. 

" All . . . will bear in mind this 
sacred principle," says Mr. Jefferson, in 
his first inaugural address, " that though 
the will of the majority is in all cases to 
prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be 
reasonable ; that the minority possess their 
equal rights, which equal laws must pro- 
tect, and to violate which would be oppres- 
sion. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite 
with one heart and one mind. Let us re- 
store to social intercourse that harmony 
and affection without which liberty and 



94 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

even life itself are but dreary things. And 
let us reflect that having banished from 
our land that religious intolerance under 
which mankind so long bled and suffered, 
we have yet gained little if we counte- 
nance a political intolerance as despotic, as 
wicked, and capable of as bitter and 
bloody persecutions." 

I. EXPAXSIOX OF TEREITORY 

Mr. Jefferson favored expansion of ter- 
ritory, to a certain extent; for, besides his 
natural desire for healthy national growth, 
he believed that the government of a large 
country is apt to be safer and freer from 
corrupting influences than the government 
of a small district. The great empire of 
Louisiana was his purchase. He regarded 
Texas and the Floridas as naturally fall- 
ing to our right. 23 ' I have ever looked 
on Cuba," he says, " as the most interest- 
ing addition which could ever be made to 
our system of States. The control which, 
with Florida Point, this island would give 
us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the coun- 
tries and isthmus bordering on it, as well 
as all those whose waters flow into it, would 
fill up the measure of our political well- 

23 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, pp. 471, 472. 



Various Questions of Importance 95 

being." 24 Possibly, then, he would have 
favored the acquisition of the nearer 
South American states and a portion, or 
all, of Canada. Possibly he would, I say. 
If Canada and such of the South Ameri- 
can states as could combine with intelli- 
gence their citizens with ours would have 
manifested a disposition to enter our 
Union, I believe Mr. Jefferson would 
have been one to consider the proposition 
favorably. But would he have compelled 
them by force of arms to partake of our 
liberties? I trow not. Would he then 
have sought territory by conquest on the 
opposite side of the globe? To ask this 
question is, it seems to me, to answer it; 
for much as he desired Cuba, right at our 
doors, he did not want it at the " expense 
of war and enmity." 25 But if anyone is 
still disposed, as some have seemed to be, 
to justify the present expansive policy of 
the United States by pointing to the ex- 
pansive policy of Jefferson, let them pro- 
ceed to reconcile the principle of standing 
armies with the principle of no standing 
army, and the principle of governmental 
despotism with governmental liberty; and 
if these principles seem reconcilable and 

24 Works, vol. vii, p. 317. 25 ibid. 



96 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

reconciled, then let them consider the fol- 
lowing declarations: 

' From many conversations with him 
[M. Corres, appointed minister to Brazil 
by the Government of Portugal], I hope 
he sees, and will promote in his new situa- 
tion, the advantages of a cordial frater- 
nization among all the American nations, 
and the importance of their coalescing in 
an American system of policy, totally in- 
dependent of and unconnected with that 
of Europe. The day is not distant when 
we may formally require a meridian of 
partition through the ocean which sepa- 
rates the two hemispheres, on the hither 
side of which no European gun shall ever 
be heard, nor an American on the other; 
and when, during the rage of the eternal 
wars of Europe, the lion and the lamb, 
within our regions, shall lie down together 
in peace." 26 

" Our first and fundamental maxim 
should be, never to entangle ourselves in 
the broils of Europe. [But of Asia?] 
Our second, never to suffer Europe to in- 
termeddle with cis- Atlantic affairs." 27 

26 To William Short, August 4, 1820.— Randall's Life 
of Jeferson, vol. iii, p. 472. 

27 To President Monroe, October 24, 1823.— Works, 
vol. vii, p. 315. 



Various Questions of Importance 97 
J. PROVIDENCE IN POLITICS 

Some men have counted Mr. Jefferson 
an atheist. Now, whatever he was, that he 
was not. However we may question his 
orthodoxy, we cannot question his belief 
in an Almighty and All- Wise Providence, 
— unless we question his sincerity. That 
he regarded the All- Wise as being con- 
cerned in the welfare and progress of men 
and nations, and that he desired to encour- 
age a becoming reverence for Him, is ap- 
parent in all his more formal state pa- 
pers. The following paragraph, quoted 
from Mr. Jefferson's second inaugural 
address, will serve to illustrate the point 
in question: 

" I shall need, too, the favor of that 
Being in whose hands we are, who led our 
forefathers, as Israel of old, from their 
native land, and planted them in a country 
flowing with all the necessaries and com- 
forts of life ; who has covered our infancy 
with His providence, and our riper years 
with His wisdom and power ; and to whose 
goodness I ask you to join with me in sup- 
plications that He will so enlighten the 
minds of your servants, guide their coun- 
cils, and prosper their measures, that what- 



98 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 

soever they do, shall result in your good, 
and shall secure to you the peace, friend- 
ship, and approbation of all nations." 28 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

Jefferson was not only a political scien- 
tist ; he was also a practical statesman. He 
served his own age well, but succeeding 
ages better; for while he was, perhaps, a 
step in advance of his own generation, he 
was building also for their children. He 
stood for freedom of action, freedom of 
conscience, freedom of intellect. The 
American apostle of human rights and 
human liberties, he reinaugurated the 
American crusade against ignorance, 
seeking to implant knowledge and virtue 
in each individual as the " true basis of 
the state, and as the best safeguard for 
the right exercise of liberty." 

28 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 176. 



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